1941
"In Memoriam" by Percy Dixon and set to music by Harry Gill published in 1941, probably the most explicit tribute amongst four individual pieces dedicated to the memory of Ernest Bristow Farrar, who was killed aged 33 at the Somme on the 18th of September 1918, after just two days at the Front. While perhaps not the greatest poetry ever written, it sums up something of the feeling amongst the colleagues and friends of the composer, whose death also inspired significant works by Frank Bridge and Gerald Finzi.

Farrar has been relatively neglected since 1918, and is now best known as the first, and arguably most influential teacher of the young Gerald Finzi. Finzi went on to be one of the most celebrated English composers of the mid-century and the melancholic tone of his works is often attributed to the loss of his friend and teacher.

During Farrar's life, he was considered an up-and-coming... (Continues)